LOCAL AND COMMUTER AIRLINES IN THE UNITED STATES

The theoretical background of central-place theory and the concept of similar hierarchy of transportation systems is briefly described, and comments are made on the history of local airlines and the development of commuter airlines. Trends indicate that local service airlines will increasingly resemble the major trunk airlines in terms of volume of business, routing, and operating complexity. They will move away from the marginal lines that can provide the necessary service at a much lower cost and with greater convenience than the large airlines can. These smaller airlines will, however, face increasing competition from ground transportation. Commuter airlines will need to experiment (with new technologies and innovative ideas) to maintain any advantage over their competitor. It is noted that low-order communities should be left to low-order transportation services, and that the Civil Aeronautics Board should be more liberal in allowing flow-through subsidies and elimination-substitution services.